Moscow: Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Russia's Tver region that sparked a fire and forced the partial evacuation of residents on Wednesday morning. Reports on social media claimed that massive explosions could be heard at the town of Toropets in the western part of the region, where wreckage from a destroyed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire.
Russia's air defence units have destroyed at least 54 Ukrainian drones. Schools and kindergartens were cancelled on Wednesday in parts of Russia's Tver region, local administration said in a statement that followed reports of a Ukrainian drone attack on the region. Kyiv says the strikes targeted Russia's military, energy and transport infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts.
Igor Rudenya, the governor of the region located northwest of Moscow said on the Telegram messaging app that firefighters were trying to contain the fire and that Russian air defence units were still trying to repel "a massive drone attack" over the town. Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town, which has a population of just over 11,000, as per local reports.
Seven Ukrainian drones were also destroyed over the western Smolensk region, Vasily Anokhin, governor of the region, which borders Belarus, said on Telegram. Fourteen more drones were downed over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, and several more were destroyed over the regions of Oryol and Tula, the governors of those regions said.
Kyiv has previously said its strikes on Russia target military, energy and transport infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts. Russian officials rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks.
As Ukraine has ramped up its domestic drone production over the past two years, it has increased attacks on Russian territory.
Ukraine's biggest-ever drone attack targeted the Russian capital in September, killing at least one, wrecking homes and disrupting flights at Moscow's airports. This was followed by the largest drone attack on the capital, as Ukraine fired 144 drones of which 20 targeted Moscow, again forcing the closure of airports.
Ukraine says it has a right to strike deep into Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, though Kyiv's Western backers have repeatedly said they do not want the war to escalate into a direct confrontation between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance. Recently, there have been signs from the United States of a shift in its policy to not allow Kyiv to attack targets deep inside Russia.
(with Reuters input)
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